Terror plot foiled after couple falls out

2012-07-20 09:03

London - A planned bomb attack on Jewish sites in the English city of Manchester was foiled when the husband-and-wife team behind the plot became embroiled in a domestic dispute, prosecutors said in a case that led to the wife's conviction on Thursday.

Prosecutor Bobbie Cheema told Manchester Crown Court that police were called when 33-year-old Mohammed Sajid Khan and his 38-year-old wife Shasta got into an argument at their home last July.

Shasta's family was drawn into the squabble, and at one point the dispute got physical, with Mohammed assaulting his father-in-law.

Officers called to deal with a domestic violence episode got a little more than they bargained for, Cheema told the jury in opening remarks delivered last month.

She said that one of Shasta's brothers told the officers Mohammed was "a home-grown terrorist." Shasta joined in too, proceeding to "spill the beans" on her husband's terrorist activities — all while denying she had anything to do with them.

Detectives perusing the pair's computer records found evidence of web searches for information on how to make explosives from acid and bleach, as well as notes referring to firearms and addresses at the heart of Manchester's Jewish community.

An examination of the satellite navigation in Shasta Khan's car showed several trips to Jewish areas of the city.

Cheema said the pair — who met on a Muslim dating website in July 2010 and married shortly thereafter — had been radicalised by material such as al-Qaeda's Inspire, an online magazine aimed at English-speaking Muslims. But she said that the "path from radicalisation to atrocity" appeared to have been broken by the deterioration of "internal domestic affairs".

Shasta Khan, who denied all wrongdoing, burst into tears on Thursday when she was convicted of one count of preparing for acts of terrorism and two counts of possessing information useful for the purposes of terrorism. She wailed as she was led into the cells.

Her husband had pleaded guilty at an earlier hearing. Both are due to be sentenced on Friday.

Jewish protection group the Community Service Trust said that the jury saw evidence of anti-Semitic incitement and noted that the couple "researched Jewish neighbourhoods and had driven to these areas in order to engage in hostile reconnaissance against them".

"The verdict shows the "reality of anti-Jewish terrorism in Britain today", trust spokesperson Mark Gardner said in a statement.

Comments

allcoveredinNinjas - 2012-07-20 10:01

By definition , the torah, bible and koran are hate speech publications and should be a criminal act to distribute and publicly recite from on the basis of incitement to violence. Worst is that these are divine obligations which according to followers superceed any other laws .

Hoosen Essa - 2012-07-20 10:20

By whose definition????? Have you even read the Torah, Bible or Quraan??? most issues around the world are not with religion but with politics and the use of religion to justify their actions.

allcoveredinNinjas - 2012-07-20 15:27

Where would you like me to start . If it was just about politics and territory then most of the issues would be solved by now . You can only use religion as justification if there is something profound (in the books)to make that justification on and validate it (Dogmatic compulsion). One would assume the literal word of god would not be able to be manipulated for these actions , unambiguous and without contradiction .
Quran (8:12)
Quran (9:29)
Quran (33:60-62)
Quran (9:5)
Quran (17:16)
Here's a taste we can move on to the other books, the hadith or whatever. Now if you take these books literally (a large section do :Koran burning; danish cartoons) then its quite easy to find divinely inspired mandates for murder ect.If its about intepretation then God chose badly in revealing this to a illiterates. You can cherry pick the good but if you do that it contradicts the belief that the text is the literal word of God. In perticular Islam hasn't had the reformations that Judaism and christianity has had , the problem being that it clearly states its the last and final word of God and that nothing further is needed. You cannot divorce religion from the problems of politics, policy,security and dialog especially in countries where religion is the form of governance. The most sinister part being that if we looked out and saw the the mushroom clouds of doom this would be the best thing ever to happen to believers as the final days will be upon them .

Hoosen Essa - 2012-07-20 16:19

1stly there is no devinely inspired murder, don't talk nonsense. now usually when intelectuals read books, its done with an open mind, you on the other hand already have a negative mindset, you take an entire sentance out of context and then argue on it. Get a firm grasp of the concept of what you reading and then debate on it

allcoveredinNinjas - 2012-07-20 16:58

Firstly these books make astonishing claims (ie: The word of God) so i'll judge them on those claims and the consequences of these idea's. I read and evaluate with a critical mind set , if it was being put forward as a piece of fiction then you could revel in the literature of the piece but its claims and those of its followers is that of an absolute truth , as a way of life ,prescribes divine law and as such should be treated like any other historical ,political ,legal or scientific piece which would require a critical analysis .Your head is in the clouds if you think people don't murder because of divine revelation , how do we know because the explicitly tell us.

Hoosen Essa - 2012-07-20 10:12

Islam says do not kill innocent woman and children!!!!!!! which part do these home grown alqaeeda inspired morons not understand??? only fight to defend yourself in war!!! if your enemy comes to your door sick hungry, feed him and see to his health!!!! Salahuddin gave his best horses to his enemy King Richard when Richard lost his horses in war and also sent him the best doctors!!!! Lock all these pricks up. Society does not need them, especially if they out to ruin peace and bring down Islam

jaba.kov - 2012-07-20 10:16

Agree
Muslims need to take their religion back - for it has been hijacked my fundamentalist Islamics. Most Muslims are good peaceful people - its a very small number of nut-cases who give Islam a bad name.